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Sam Allardyce tries out the four-four-tutu

Giles Smith

“We work with culture because we want to win more games. If we become braver outside the pitch, we’ll become braver on the pitch” — Karin Wahlen, the “cultural coach” at the Swedish club Ostersunds, Arsenal’s opponents in the Europa League this week, whose team activities include a regular book club, Lady Gaga-inspired dance classes, the re-creation of a piece of Yoko Ono performance art and an all-squad production of Swan Lake.

Exclusive future extracts from the journals of Bill Kenwright, the Everton chairman.

Allardyce and the rest of the Coventry City squad try out some ballet moves in 1983COVENTRY TELEGRAPH/MIRRORPIX

February 19, 2018Sam Allardyce was on the phone again last night, asking me whether I’ve got any further with finding him a cultural coach. Since he read about Ostersunds, he’s like a dog with a bone on this one — just won’t…

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